The present invention relates to front-mounted rotary mowers and more specifically relates to lift mechanisms for suspending such mowers.
Typically, front-mounted rotary mowers are either mounted to a vehicle by a pair of links coupled between the vehicle and the rear of the mower blade housing or by a pair of links which is connected between the vehicle and the blade housing at a central location thereof between its front and rear. In the former mounting, a lift linkage is coupled between the vehicle and a central location of the housing while in the latter mounting the pair of links also forms a lift linkage. Both types of mountings suffer from the disadvantage that when the mower is raised for transport, the rear end of the blade housing remains relatively close to the ground and often is not sufficiently high to clear obstacles, such as street curbs and the like, when the vehicle is being driven to and from mowing sites surrounded by such curbs.